5 things Facebook’s Zuckerberg revealed in House hearing

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For almost five hours on Wednesday, Zuckerberg answered questions from members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Both parties had axes to grind: Democrats blamed Cambridge Analytica’s data harvesting for their loss in the 2016 presidential election, while Republicans mainly complained about Facebook’s censorship of conservative viewpoints.

Those annoying ads? Blame Facebook, not advertisers

Throughout the hearings on Tuesday and Wednesday, Zuckerberg maintained that Facebook does not sell anyone’s data and that users can control who has access to whatever they share via “inline” settings.

Answering Rep. Joe Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) at one point, however, Zuckerberg explained that advertisers never have access to users directly. Rather, it is Facebook that places ads on users’ timelines based on its own rankings and data analysis.

“The targeting options for advertisers are generally based on what people share,” the CEO said.